


The Third Thread

by sonus



Series: Blue, Green, Red [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Red String of Fate, pinning, with a little twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:07:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27441694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonus/pseuds/sonus
Summary: Donghyuck has hated the colorful threads around his pinky for as long as he can remember.But he could never hate Mark.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Series: Blue, Green, Red [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2077929
Comments: 19
Kudos: 224
Collections: Challenge #3 — soulmates





	The Third Thread

**Author's Note:**

> hello~
> 
> to say i'm excited for this one is an understatement!! i wasn't planning on joining this round at all but seeing as soulmates are one of my favorite tropes i just had too haha
> 
> i hope you will enjoy this markhyuck~

If there's one thing that can be said about Donghyuck from a really young age, it's that he is curious.

Curious about why all the butterflies that sit on his arms on summer days he spends in the backyard or his house are different colors.

Curious about why some people he passes on his way to the supermarket, hand in his mother's larger one, have dark circles under their eyes.

Curious about the three little colorful threads tied to his little finger.

"Mum, can I untie them?" he asks his mother one sunny morning. He's had a rough morning and his finger is itchy under all the colorful mess.

She looks at him then, panic flashing in her eyes before she crouches before him so that Donghyuck can look into her brown eyes and see his own reflection.

"Sweetie," she starts in a soft voice but the panic is still there. "You can but you shouldn't. Not yet at least."

"Why? It's itchy and I don't really like the colors," he says and catches one of the threads into his little chubby fingers.

It's bright red, the same shade as his mother's flowers in the garden. Donghyuck pulls on it but nothing happens. The thread seems endless. It never tangles up or anything and normally he just ignores its existence but not today.

"Honey," his mother catches his shoulders and turns him to face her. Once Donghyuck's full attention is back on her she smiles. "Each of the threads leads you to one of your soulmates."

"What's a soulmate?" Donghyuck asks. He has never heard the word before.

"It's someone who is supposed to match you perfectly in some way. See," she points at his little finger. "There are three threads there, right?"

Donghyuck nods and then frowns.

"You can't see them?"

"No. Everyone can only see their own threads," she answers patiently and Donghyuck's gaze travels to her pinky. There's nothing there, at least Donghyuck can't see it. "Each of them represents a different form of soulmates."

Donghyuck inhales sharply and looks at the little threads. He wonders what kind of people hold the second end and how comes they are a perfect fit for him. It's both comforting and terrifying.

"The blue one is for someone who will probably seem like an enemy at first. I know mine did," Donghyuck observes his mother smile fondly. "Back in the day that's what they were considered as. Nowadays, people think of blue soulmates who bring the best out of them in the most unexpected ways."

Donghyuck frowns. It sounds like a pain but then again, he likes bickering so maybe he will find a way to befriend his blue soulmate.

"The green one is for someone who is supposed to be your pillar of strength. They are usually people who we call best friends but it depends on the person," once again, a warm smile. "I guess, you can say that green soulmates are that one person who will always be there for you when you need it. If you work for it, of course. A relationship goes two ways."

With that Donghyuck can agree. He thinks he wouldn't mind meeting his green soulmate already. Donghyuck has tons of friends but no one feels especially close to him yet.

"The red one…" his mother looks away at the roses behind the window and Donghyuck tears his gaze away to turn around and stare at the red petals too. "Is the trickiest. They are supposed to be the person you love most."

"That's it?" he asks, voice skeptical.

His mother laughs.

"That's more than enough," she smiles at him and pats his head. "You asked me about taking it off before. Red is the string people untie the most. It's the most unique bond."

"What's the big deal? I can tie my laces back up if I untie them," Donghyuck points out.

"It doesn't work like this with strings of fate," his mother ruffles his hair. "Once you untie it, the thread disappears for both you and your soulmate. Neither of you can get a new one in the same color. It's a decision for the rest of your life and shouldn't be made in a rush."

Donghyuck blinks. All the information swims in his head and he lets go of the strings tied around his finger. He doesn't want to accidentally lose a soulmate even before he meets them. First, he will get to know, then he will decide if he likes them enough to let them take the role they are supposed to have in his life.

He nods.

"Is it possible to have two threads tied to one person?" he asks, the question popping up in his head randomly.

His mother searches his face as if looking for an answer Donghyuck can't give.

"Yes," she says finally, her tone more serious now. "It's very, very rare but it happens. This kind of connection… I've heard it can be a lot to handle."

Donghyuck nods as if that was it. Maybe it was, seeing as after this the conversation comes to an end.

The words his mother says that they keep playing in the back of his head, especially the last ones.

Donghyuck can't shake them off.

xxx

The day Donghyuck traces two of his threads to the owner of the other end feels anything but grand.

It's the first day of elementary school and at first, Donghyuck is too stressed to notice the pull at his little finger.

Both green and red strings wake up to life and dance under his fingers as he finally understands what's happening.

"Impossible," he whispers to himself, and then he is on the run to find the other end.

Mark is quiet and collected.

Donghyuck glances at him with distrust and a frown.

It doesn't feel read with the way the older carries himself as if every rule is meant to be protected not broken as Donghyuck believes it to be.

Mark is too short, too small to fit the role that the universe has thrust him into and so is Donghyuck. They pull and push, crashing against each other with anger in their eyes and bitterness on their tongues.

It gets unbearable at times, to the point where Donghyuck splits out the words he has had at the back of his mind at his mother.

"It should be blue that connects me to Mark if anything at all," he says, voice filled with annoyance. "I want to untie both of my threads and forget about this whole fiasco."

His mother watches carefully his every move.

"Donghyuck," she starts, the tone so similar to the one she used to explain soulmates to him. "Did you even give him a chance? Or did you shut him down completely from the start? I told you, the red string is the hardest to maintain and two threads tied to the same person can be a lot at times. But Mark seems really sweet."

Donghyuck thinks back to all the times he has tried to rile up the older and how, as time passed he has finally succeeded.

Deep down he doubts it's possible for them to fit anywhere near perfect together but that day he decides to give it all that he has refused to do before.

Donghyuck gives it a chance.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles to Mark as he brings out an apple his mother gave him this morning. Donghyuck's handshakes as he lifts it up and Mark's eyes go round as he takes the situation in. "I was probably a little bit too wild, huh?"

Mark scans him for a moment, probably looking for any secret motives and pranks hidden behind Donghyuck's back but this time he doesn't find anything.

It takes a moment but a small smile tugs at the corner of his lips and Donghyuck can't help a smirk, too.

"A little bit," Mark agrees and reaches out to take the peace offering. "But it's okay," Mark gives him a warm smile, and something inside Donghyuck trembles. "It's overwhelming for me too."

In the end, Donghyuck can't even regret going without lunch that day.

Mark's smile and kind words are worth much, much more.

xxx

As months and then years pass by Donghyuck wonders if maybe making up with Mark was a mistake after all.

It's not that life with Mark Lee as his friend instead of a foe is terrible.

In fact, it's quite the opposite.

Once Donghyuck gets to know the real Mark he can't help falling for him, hard.

He doesn't say anything, of course, despite the red thread between them.

Mark is never secretive about the colors connecting them but Donghyuck prefers bringing up the green more often than the red.

There is something hard to decode in Mark's eyes each time he does it but a smile on the older's face makes up for it and Donghyuck learns to not pay it too much attention.

Before all else, Mark Lee is his best friend. He grows into that role pretty fast and only time would tell if he also grew into the other one or if the red string between them stayed as a reminder of all the unspoken words forever.

Mark's smile doesn't reach his eyes more often than not.

xxx

Renjun is a hurricane of emotions for Donghyuck. Right off the bat they just _click_ and Donghyuck imminently understands what his mother meant by enemies who bring the best out of each other.

While with Mark it was mainly Donghyuck's doing that they didn't get along at first, here it's a group effort.

"So, how is it?" Mark asks him one Spring day as they sit in Donghyuck's garden, red roses between them disguising the red string between them so that for a moment the younger can pretend only the green is there and they are simply best friends.

"How's what?" he asks back absentmindedly.

"Having a blue soulmate," Make sounds impatient and excited like Renjun is some big and important puzzle piece they have been looking for.

Maybe he is, maybe he isn't.

"You have one too," Donghyuck reminds the older but all he gets in reply is a head shake. Mark hasn't met his own blue soulmate yet. This might not even be a big deal if Mark's view on the whole soulmate thing wasn't so different from Donghyuck.

The younger thinks of them as an option, a possibility waiting to be verified.

Mark looks at it more like a comfort, happy that Donghyuck does fit him well.

Maybe this is the reason why Donghyuck is so scared of that red thread between them. He doesn't want to be the only option. He wants to be a…

A choice.

"It's fun," he admits finally. "He really gets on my nerves but I guess you can count on him joining us during lunches soon."

Mark laughs at that, apparently satisfied with Donghyuck's simple answer.

"I bet Jeno will be happy," Donghyuck finds it fascinating how Mark's voice quite literally sounds like a smile. "He says he wanted to try befriending him before but Renjun seemed intimidating."

Donghyuck snorts. He can imagine it; one of his best friends trying to make small talk with Renjun, all eye smiles, just for Renjun to give him dry replies, probably not aware of Jeno's intentions.

"I'm happy too," Mark's smile is warm.

"Me too," Donghyuck's voice is small.

He means the words, of course, he does. Renjun is good, amazing even.

Mark's expression turns more serious as the sun starts to set and Donghyuck can see the lights from the house behind them reflect in his eyes. He can't read his best friend in the dying light of the late afternoon.

He can't tell if the pull on his pinky is real or if it's just the wind playing with him either.

xxx

Throughout the years Donghyuck contemplates untying his end of the thread. He thinks about it at night where all three colors blend with each other and he can't tell if the one he loops around his finger is one of Mark's or maybe Renjun's.

He thinks about setting Mark free.

Because despite how sweet and good the older is to Donghyuck he deserves more. Mark deserves something else, not being tied to one person twice, especially someone like Donghyuck.

Sometimes at night, Donghyuck can still feel bitter words from back in the day at the tip of his tongue. The amount of spite they had for each other feels surreal now.

Still, he doesn't dare to even try untangling the thread. What would he do if he by accident undid the wrong one?

Sometimes it feels like even if he tried he wouldn't be able to take it off, his love for Mark too deep to give up.

So in the end, Donghyuck lets the strings be even if looking at that third red one makes him ache.

xxx

Donghyuck is about to enter college when Mark finally breaks.

It's so not like the older that at first, he can't make sense of what's going on.

It starts with Mark's last thread leading him to a senior named Yuta and for the first time maybe ever Donghyuck sees a different side of his best friend.

It's weird to see just how true and fitting the blue soulmate description is even if Donghyuck has Renjun at his side to prove it. It's different when it comes to Mark because the older usually isn't like this on his own.

"It's it weird how the strings don't really lie?" he asks Renjun one day while they are trying to do their homework. The keyword being 'trying'.

The older looks up and stares at him, gaze curious.

"Were you expecting them too?"

"Maybe," Donghyuck hesitates as he tries to put his feelings into words. "I guess that the more I sit on it the more strange it becomes that the stupid string between us tell us how we should feel about it other."

"But they don't," Renjun's stare becomes so intense that Donghyuck has to look away. "Sure, you can feel like you're meant to be _something_ with the person you're tied to but ultimately it doesn't define your relationship. Would you not bicker with me if not for the blue between us? Don't you bicker with Jaemin too even though he isn't your soulmate?"

Donghyuck simply stares.

He knows Renjun is right but he is stared. So, so scared of the feelings building in his chest.

"Ah, I guess your words make sense," Renjun laughs shortly. "The way you and Mark are desperate the strings tying you together."

"I've wanted to untie them so many times," Donghyuck whispers his confession. "It feels like he deserves better but settles for me because of the threads."

"I think…" Renjun says slowly, voice uncertain. "I think that Mark would choose you no matter what."

And so, as Donghyuck toys with the idea of accepting the way Mark views it all and just simply giving himself what he has wanted for such a long time, Mark breaks.

"There's something I don't understand, Donghyuck," the older says one evening. "Each morning I wake up expecting to see one of our strings, or maybe both of them, gone. Each day," here, his voice breaks. "But they are both still there."

A gentle pull on Donghyuck's pinky and now he knows he isn't imagining it.

"Mark…"

"No, it's fine Donghyuck. At the end of the day, it's your choice but I just wanted to know…"

The silence that falls upon them is overpowering. Donghyuck desperately searches for words that would undo the damage but Mark deserves the truth.

"I won't say I didn't think about it because I did," he starts and his heart breaks as he observes the way Mark puts his head down. Donghyuck gets only a glimpse of his eyes but it's more than enough. "But it was never about my feeling for you or your feelings for me. Don't you sometimes think if maybe this would be easier without the threads?"

Mark looks up at him immediately.

"Maybe. I don't really care about them either way. Take them off if you want too Donghyuck. I only care about _you_."

Donghyuck's pinky itches so bad, almost as bad as it did all those years ago but this time when he looks down at it he doesn't want to get rid of the colorful threads.

For the first time since he can remember it feels right.

The blue that connects him to Renjun who is always ready to best him in everything if Donghyuck doesn't pay attention.

The green that connects him to Mark who is the best friend Donghyuck could ever ask for.

And finally, the red.

He would never replace the older, the bond they have too strong.

"No, it's fine. I'm fine," Donghyuck says and he actually means it. He smiles at Mark and the other smiles back. "I wouldn't have it any other way. I hope you know that…"

_I love you_

Mark playfully tugs at the red string.

He knows.

**Author's Note:**

> aaand that's all for today!!
> 
> comments and kudos make my day (and maybe you can try your look at guessing too, i feel like this one is pretty obvious)


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